"Shoooooot!" the United fans roared as Luke Shaw rolled back the years with a trademark burst from deep and looked to mark just his 50th appearance for the club with his first goal in red.

It was a reminder that despite waiting 219 days for a start, despite some patchy displays for the reserves, despite all those 'last chances' with Jose Mourinho , the 22-year-old remains a huge asset on form.

At one point, when caught out of position, he even chased back and beat CSKA Moscow full-back Mario Fernandes in a footrace to win the ball cleanly. Much to Mourinho's pleasure - and the supporters loved it, too.

This time, thankfully, the Portuguese did not need to resort to those bizarre 'his body with my brain' comments as Shaw made a big impression well away from his clutches on the opposite touchline in the first-half.

Looking leaner in a fitted shirt, Shaw showed glimpses of the natural talent that helped make him the world's most expensive teenager only four seasons ago.

Since then, particularly in the second-half of last season, there have been occasions where Shaw has seemed to almost be second-guessing himself with Mourinho's instructions weighing him down.

You could see in his body language that he had a point to prove in his first Champions League start since he suffered a horrific double fracture on that dark night in Eindhoven.

Shaw used to watch videos of that moment as a sort of therapy, a sort of catharsis, and aside from the scar on his right leg, you would not know he was any different from any other of his more fortunate team-mates.

In open training on Tuesday, for example, a jovial Shaw joked to a member of staff that he needed a haircut as he made his way onto the field and he was all smiles in the warm-up 24 hours later.

At a time when United target Danny Rose has openly admitted he has been left 'fuming' over a lack of football at Spurs after bouncing back from his own horror injury, Shaw sent a timely reminder. He is far from finished.

Read More

Just as Henrikh Mkhitaryan has seen his stock rise and plummet - the Armenian was even left out of the match day squad against CSKA Moscow - Shaw could yet get back into Mourinho's plans. Even if veteran Ashley Young is in the driving seat at the moment.

Indeed, it was noticeable how many fans held their breath when Shaw - United's fourth-choice left-back not so long ago - went down in the 80th minute But, thankfully, it was just an understandable bout of cramp as he completed a full 90 minutes for the first-team for the first time since April.